GSA, contractor map out plan for EA component repository

By Jason Miller

Mar 08, 2004

To make a component repository available by September of next year to agencies working on enterprise architectures, the General Services Administration has tapped Science Applications International Corp. to flesh out the online storehouse.

The Component Organization and Registration Environment, www.core.gov, will store existing components and information about those under development. Working with SAIC, the Office of Management and Budget has launched the first basic version of CORE.gov.

In October, GSA awarded SAIC of San Diego a 23-month, $968,000 contract for the project, said Keith Thurston, assistant deputy associate administrator in GSA's Office of E-Government and Technology. GSA, which evaluated four proposals, is handling the contract administration of the project for OMB and the CIO Council.

The CORE.gov project has three phases. SAIC, whose team includes Collabnet Inc. of Brisbane, Calif., and Sun Microsystems Inc., will work on all of the phases.

The first phase was to build the basic online repository that lets agencies collaborate on standardizing data definitions and structures as well as submit IT components for possible reuse (Click for March 8 GCN story).

Thurston said agencies have begun work on data standards for human resources, financial management, trucking and surface coal mining information.

'The end result will be an internal database where agencies can look up a specific area, see who else is doing similar work and then harmonize the efforts so agencies are not reinventing the wheel,' he said.

In Phase 2, SAIC will work on providing integration capabilities and development tools and then incorporate the database with other registries and repositories during Phase 3.

The Defense Department has its own component registry, and SAIC will try to connect it to CORE.gov to make information sharing easier, Thurston said.

GSA also will put in place an arbitration process to settle data standard conflicts, he said.

Thurston said phases two and three are dependent on funding. He said GSA funded the initial work on the contract through the CIO Council and agency contributions.